Fourth Quarter Spurs Route of Pesky Indians

At the half of the Interstate 35 game against the neighboring Clarke County Indians the score was 14-0 with all of the points scored in the first quarter. After the a calamitous third quarter the score was 20-13 with the Indians gaining momentum. The slight momentum shift allowed for a slight possibility of a barn-burner ending. The ending never came. The Roadrunners began a balanced attack through the air and on the ground to score 21 unanswered points to cruise to a 41-13 victory. Though the game had a few head scratching moments and a few questions to be answered on both sides of the ball, the biggest questions for the Indians at the end of the night were 1) Where did this passing game come from? Tommy Bregar hit three different receivers for 11 completions on 17 tosses, and 2) How do we stop Alex Middleton?
Unfortunately for Clarke, they had no answer to either question with Middleton toting the ball 12 times for 124 yards allowing just over 10 yards per carry and adding a touchdown on the night.
Receivers on the night were held scoreless but did manage to pile up 141 yards with those 11 receptions. Ryan Deuel and Briar Vogel led the way with four catches and Zach Goering added three.
The Roadrunners didn't only end the night strong offensively, the began it that way as well. Led by a strong ground game Interstate marched down the field and Bregar put the first points on the board on a bootleg scramble. Dylan Webb then added the point to take the early lead. On the ensuing kickoff Bregar found a hole in the Clarke return team and the Roadrunners capitalized by recovering the ball and quickly added another touchdown to finish the scoring for the first half. Although Bregar and Middleton put up strong yards for the visiting team, Sam Bedwell and Andrew Morris added their fair share of yards, 143 combined, and two scores a piece.

While the first quarter offense was clicking, the first quarter defense was stifling holding the surprised Indians to only a few plays of positive yards. The third quarter was a different story. Clarke fought back on their way to two scores and a chance to get back in the game. Even an incredible blocked extra point attempt by Ryan Deuel was not enough to keep the Indians off the board. While yellow flags helped the Roadrunner cause on numerous occasions in the first half, the men in stripes kept their flags in their pockets the second half while Interstate faithful watched Clarke take advantage of the very aggressive defense. Ethan Jones again led the way in tackling while the defense allowed only one 100+ yard rusher and forced three fumbles.

The Interstate offense will again need to be running on all cylinders when Pella Christian comes to town for a homecoming match up. The varsity will again follow the freshman team who are now 1-0 on the season after taking out Clarke in the first game Friday.

Photos Courtesy of Craig Bregar